Hookin' it up!

I've clocked in more than 30 hours each of  the past two weeks between training at Walsh and closing up the year of religious education at Little Flower.  So, I'm taking a break and catching up.  Here's another post and there are likely more to come for the night.

In mid-April, Ohio was graced with the appearance of one Stephany Quinn Medicine Woman.  I played soccer with Steph in college and though she is a native of Mississauga, Ontario (the land of the maple leaf) we've managed to stay in touch.  To be totally honest I would like to communicate with her more regularly but given I don't get much vacation time from being mom and she is in her residency for medical school I'm grateful that we make the contact we do between a couple letters by post and intermittent messaging via the world wide web.

I remember getting particularly excited when we moved back to Ohio thinking It will be reasonable to take the boys up to visit Steph now.  Shortly thereafter she moved out to B.C. for residency which isn't quite as reasonable a roadtrip.

Lucky for us, Steph and her boyfriend Dan ventured down to "the heart of it all" and we were able to connect in Canton.

 That's me on the far left, then Nicole who started at Walsh the same year and played soccer with us, then Steph, next is Jess (one of Steph's roommates in college), Kristen (a year ahead of us on the soccer team) and Becky the hostess and another one of Steph's roommates at Walsh).

During her brief stay she updated us on the ways of her world in medical school and introduced us to this film where her dad, who is big into extreme sports, got a major role as "Mr. Spreckles".  (WARNING: video contains some language that is not appropriate for all ages) Ski Ballet.  Apparently, the video was an entry in a film festival contest where they had a limited time to create a short film.  Interestingly, ski ballet was in fact a sport at one time as I learned watching a few videos of actual competitors.  Having never really skied before I find the skill admirable although the video takes a slightly more humorous and colorful approach.

It was fun to hang out with some of my college friends and remember those good ol' days.  However, the phrase "When did we get so old!?!?!" was blurted out on more than one occasion.  It's nice being around those friends that even though you don't get together often you manage to "connect" and pick up right where you left off.

In sticking with the theme of making connections, I thought I would refer you to my sister's blog so you can compare photos of our pretzel rolls.  She made hers first and when I saw them on her blog I decided that they would be a integral part of the birthday dinner for my mother-in-law who loves pretzels.  I made a chicken salad, as well as, sausage and peppers and onions  (more for my father-in-law) both of which tasted great on the rolls.  I think Kate's look nicer than mine but they still tasted great!

Also, feel free to enter Kate's haiku contest. She had a limerick contest around Thanksgiving 2012 but that's on her old blog site I believe.  My other sister Tess was one of the winners for that one.  It was pretty hard to beat seeing as she wrote a limerick to announce her pregnancy.  We are getting excited to meet baby boy Maione due on July 13th.


And finally, a couple random pictures.  Here we have Luke who likes to exhibit his new found climbing skills by scaling to the top bunk.

 And here is Augustine in a photo courtesy of Grandma Angie where he meets the dashing young man in the mirror.

Any tash batt?!?!?

The last weekend in April was priceless.  Whooda thunk that the cashier at Aldi would be such an influential individual in our son's life?

Three quarters of the way through our adventures this past Saturday Luke, once again, rocked our world with his random awesomeness.  Engaging in playful conversation while exploring the playground behind our church, Pete and I exchanged puzzled glances as Luke implored repeatedly, "Any tash batt?"  [Activate toddler talk translator sequence].

BBuZZZZZZZZZZZ.

Beep. Beep-beep. Beeeeeeeppp.  Beep-beep.

bbbrrrrriiing. brrrring.

Chirp. Chir-chir chirp. glub. glub.

ZAMBONI!

Sincere apologies for the delay for those proficient in kiddy code, but for those that are still wondering Luke was asking "Any cash back?!?"  As in, we are checking out at the register and using our debit card and the cashier wants to know if we want to get our hands on some paper money.

After figuring out what Luke was saying I, of course, got all philosophical.  After the day's activities I was quite confident in responding to Luke, "No thank you Luke, but thanks for asking."  You see,  I was the happiest mom/woman in the world.  Feeling truly blessed and abundantly joyful I could think of nothing else that I needed nor wanted.  Kind of like the day a couple months ago when Luke got his blanket and curled up on the sack for a nap without any prompting from me and Augustine miraculously settled down for his nap at the same time.

The glorious day I was reflecting on began with a relatively unplanned excursion to the Akron Zoo.  The Maione family that had us in the Christmas gift exchange got our family a membership to the zoo.  We were waiting for warmer weather to activate it.  Without too much premeditation we seized the sunny last Saturday of April to activate the membership.  Needless to say there were plenty of other folks that thought the zoo was a great idea that day too.  Despite the crowd we had a wonderful time.  We packed a lunch of pizza rolls I had made the night before and perused the penguins, lion, and tiger, and bears.  OH MY!

 We continued through other mini adventures like this rope bridge and an explorer truck and hideout.  We laughed a little at the excitement of onlookers in the farm animal exhibit since we find those creatures commonplace but realize we would probably ignite the same laughter over our excitement to traverse the city world's public transportation system.  Luke was uninterested in feeding the goats crackers or paper cups for that matter especially since the train ride caught his attention and led to a formidable two-year old fit.  Luckily we found a stationery train where he could sit and hang out a while on our exit route that helped the tears subside.

Mommy and daddy indulged in a treat a Swenson's on the way home since the boys drifted off to sleep [muuuah-ha-ha-ha-ha] just as planned. We arrived at the homestead in time to reload the picnic thermal tote and freshen up a bit before heading to the vigil Mass at our parish.  There is a school at our parish that dons an enticing play area.  We had been promising Luke we would stop after church once the weather was nice.  That day had come.  Prayer and worship was excellent and made particularly wonderful by well-behaved offspring from which the sun had sapped just enough energy to reduce the wiggles and inspire attentiveness.  Prayers of thankfulness continued after the closing hymn as we led a skipping Luke by hand to the playground.  He was a little annoyed by us interrupting his play time to snap a photo.

The second picnic of the day included roast beef and tabouli wraps, pretzels, grapes, apples, and a leftover pizza roll from lunch.  Below is the aftermath.

Earlier in the week, Luke had become more brave in tackling ladders and other obstacles on the other playground that we frequent which set him up marvelously to enjoy the variety of slides, the shaking bridge, swings, and seesaws behind the school.  I stood nearby the daring young lad, as the sun disappeared behind the hill, the air got a bit of a chill, and I heard for the fortieth time "Any tash batt?!?!?" with his small hand outstretched and thought. No. No thank you Luke. I've got all that I need and no amount of money or possessions could possibly bring as much joy as this day or the time spent with my husband and amazing little persons. 



 And then, there's that smile.

What's Been Cooking?

After my embarrassing absence from the blogger sphere at the beginning of the new year, I've made a considerable effort to work on my documentation.  It's not that I haven't thought about blogging and I have done a decent job of catching some moments in digital memory to illustrate what in the world the Schafers have been doing.  I must confess that I do feel quite horrible for not broadcasting the exciting news earlier...

On February 26th Pete's CUA adviser brought his dissertation proposal to the Ph.D. committee for approval.  With only a few minor corrections, IT PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This is one giant step in the right direction since the proposal phase to the department's Ph.D. committee is often the most difficult to complete.  Now that it is done for Pete, the proposal needs to be okayed by the Academic Dean and then two (I think?!) other faculty readers in other departments.  By no means is the process complete but we are very grateful for the hard work and prayers that have brought us this far and humbly ask for your continued prayers for the next few stamps of approval.

Please also pray our family as we go through some other changes.  I have decided to accept a job offer from Walsh University (my alma mater ('07) and place of employment from 2008-2010 in Campus Ministry before my husband whisked me away).  On April 15th I'll begin training as a Professional Adviser for freshman students.  It'll only be up to 20 hours a week.  I'll be cutting back my hours at Little Flower once the new job starts to get right around 25 hours per week between the two jobs.  With this opportunity though I've had to consider other options for childcare since I can't have Augustine with me during the day at Walsh like I could at Little Flower.  Even though it will really only be for one full day since I can offset my hours with Pete's on the other it has still been a wee bit unsettling.  There are a few other unknown factors that are playing into the whole situation.  As usual, I'm stressing out about things that God will reveal in due time and so I ought to trust and pray for patience.  Again, any prayers you have to offer wouldn't hurt.

Since cooking is another one of my favorite, stress-relieving pastimes I decided to follow up with an activity in the kitchen update.  Not a bad feast for the eyes.  Or the tummy:-)

Layered Chef salad and French Onion Soup

White Bean, Spinach, Sausage, and Fennel Soup. A conglomerate creation: a little from this recipe, a little from that one, and the other one too, dictated by the contents of the cupboards.  YAY! for Chemistry in the kitchen though I doubt Mr. Vagedes would have approved of my measuring procedures.

Our little helper for our Holy Family Feast day pasta making tradition.  We decided to forego the traditional cuts of spaghetti and fettuccine and focus on specialty stuffed ravioli.

Long pasta sheets prepped for stuffing

Ravioli fillings. 1. Cinnamon, Pear, Ricotta 2. Cranberry, Pistachio, Cream Chees 3. Spinach, Mushroom, Garlic, Parmesan 4. Four cheese (not pictured)

Banana cake torted, leveled and filled with vanilla pudding

Base coat of Icing on the cake

Writing and Outline. Black, chocolate icing.  It's yummy but tough to make even with the Wilton gel.

George finished product for Luke's party.

Week 2 Cake Decorating Course.  Dimensional Icing.  Apparently in all the years the instructor has been working, NO ONE has ever chosen the hamburger ( the other options are a fish or a cupcake).  I was the first.  I figured it would work best with the icing colors I had left over from George.  Plus, Pete does enjoy Whoppers ;-)  This was a carrot cake with Vanilla Pudding filling.

Uncle Adam getting some Daddy Practice.  He came over for dinner to enjoy some Garlicky Beef Enchiladas and followed the entre with a serving of the book Duck Soup.  Pete and I sat back and enjoyed the story as well.  The book is quite humorous actually...I've read it to Luke numerous times but for some reason when Uncle Adam read us all the story I couldn't contain my laughter over the characters' shenanigans.

Extruding noodles for Passate a soup recipe that my Great Grandma Gambaccini used to make.  A simple soup of broth and noodles made with flour, egg, parmesan cheese, a little lemon zest, and (my favorite) cinnamon.

Putting the passate noodles in the broth to boil.  For the first time making the soup myself it turned out very well.  However, even with 14-16 cups of broth I felt it needed more for the amount of noodles the recipe made.  Pete also approved of the family dish and it gives us a chance to use some of our fun Kitchenaid gizmo gadgets so I will likely make it again.

Terribly TERRIFIC Twos

On Saturday, March 9th we celebrated Luke's 2nd birthday.  We summoned all Luke's grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins, and even gr-aunts and gr-uncles for the gathering.  It was no black tie affair...in fact, per the wishes of the birthday boy it was a pajama party.  The menu included a fresh fruit salad, apples and caramel, waffles, homefries, 4 different quiches (1. southwestern crustless 2. sausage and cheese 3. spinach, mushroom red pepper, onion and parmesan and 4. italian squash and zucchini) and, of course, BACON!

It was a marvelous afternoon and evening and I know my joy carried me through the whole next week with smiles.  I must admit that I feel a little overwhelmed though with the pressure of all the birthdays yet to come. YIKES!  Pete and I are going to have to sit down and work out some sort of strategy otherwise life is likely to  just turn into One. Big.  Party.  ;-)

Men by the grill monitoring the bacon.  Where else would you find strapping young lads?

Aunt Kate and Uncle Andrew even made the trip from Philadelphia and rocked out the theme with leopard print and some Grinch pj pants.

Glesses past and present

Great Grandma and Grandpa Francis with the birthday boy

 

 

 

 

 

 

Riding in the wagon as the twins took turns taking laps

The G-pas and other guests with some silly grins

Singing the song two times of course as is the Francis tradition.  Sadly, I did not do any practice run throughs with blowing out the candles thinking that Luke's experience of extinguishing the advent wreath candles was enough training.  Needless to say, a little spittle was added to the icing on the cake :-)  But to "take the cake" in the bad parenting category...being all wrapped up in the food prep and cake decorating I failed to make sure our imaging devices had sufficient power.  Digital camera battery- DEAD!.....Video camera battery- DEAD! wah-wah.  Thank God for Grandma Schafer and her camera!

Up close of the cake before the party.  It was a fun project.  I was ecstatic when I found that Pat Catan's was offering a cake decorating class the Monday before Luke's birthday...phew...just in time.  When I showed up for class I soon learned that the course spanned over 4 weeks.  Luckily I learned enough basics and had enough time to accomplish this sweetie.  Banana Cake with Vanilla Pudding filling.  Not a single slice left which I considered a major plus since I've been making other goodies to practice and do homework for the decorating class.

Even Sr. John-Mark from Arizona made an appearance!

Aunt Lisa and Aunt Debbie sure know how to make a Lukester happy...books....

and Thomas the Tank Engine!!!!! Luke was literally shuttering with excitement.  Unfortunately, Luke didn't understand the phrase "Thank you" until Monday, March 11th.  You better believe we've got one polite two year old on our hands with Pwease, Tankt You, quse me-pardn me, and even No tankt you (i.e. Mommy: Come here Luke. Let's put your pants on.  Luke: No tankt you [with a nod of his head and puppy dog eyes])

Grandma Ans-jsi hanging out with the boys after the party

Uncles Andy and Stevie, Aunt Tess and Grandma enjoying some cake

Mommy and her little "munties".  Curious George is Luke's other favorite character.  Adorned with a mischievous grin, Luke even told a woman at Walsh that his name was George after Mass yesterday.

Uncle Matt, Uncle Joe and Uncle Denny and some of the Neadings even stopped by amidst their busy activity schedule on a Saturday afternoon.  Thanks Uncle Joe and Aunt Denise for providing the Donut appetizers!

As you can see, Luke was not the only one whooped after the party...Dozing with Uncle Andy.

Roadtrip!

Pete scored a day off at Hoban on Friday, February 16th because they had a long day on Thursday for conferences.  Since I work on Sunday mornings we took Friday and Saturday to visit some friends and family in Columbus.  Here's the itinerary in retrospect.  We made it up as we went:

11:30 - 12 noon : Leave the Canton homestead
2:00pm - stopped at rest stop to enjoy pack tuna salad sandwiches, fresh fruit, hummus, cheese and crackers
2:20pm- arrived at Morse street Columbus
2:30pm - Investigated Pete's cousin Heather's house thoroughly from the outside as large fluffy snowflakes filled the air and we wrote an extensive note so we could be tracked down later
2:45 pm- ventured back to Keely's house to chat and play with her awesome stash of children's toys including jigsaw puzzles of Curious George and Thomas the Tank Engine (two of Luke's favorites)
5:30 pm- Packed up Keely and the boys to pick up my brother Andrew in his third year at Ohio State to go to dinner
6:00pm- Arrived at Ellie's (my friend from high school) house for a homecooked meal of mac'n cheese (with applesauce), tasty green beans and other goodies where we also got to visit with Ellie's brother Joe, his wife Kelly and their son Clark who is a few months younger than Luke.
8:30pm- Pete leaves to drop off Andrew at work and returns to unload the van
10:00pm- Pete leaves to bring Keely back home
10:45 pm- Pete done driving for the night and we call it a night!

Saturday, February 16th
Wake up, quick photo shoot, and breakfast at Ellie's
10:00am- Meet at Heather's house for grand tour, conversation and formal introduction to Alex.  We left with unexpected gifts of homemade wine and Luke snagged Heather's copy of Disney's: The Jungle Book. (We'll try to get that back to you soon Heather)
11:30am- Pick up Andy at his apartment and go to Adriatico's for Pete's favorite nostalgic pizza experience
1:00pm- Milk stop for Luke
1:30 pm - Pick up Keely and head to COSI for lots of fun (much more than I remember in my girl scout days)
4:30pm -Depart COSI (did I mention how totally awesome it was?!?!?)
5:30 pm- Mass at St. Brendan the Navigator church in Hilliard where our friend Bonnie works now.  Unfortunately we weren't able to meet up with her :-(
7:00pm- Dinner at El Vaquero
8:30 pm-  Drop off Keely, Ice stop for Andrew before dropping him off
9:00pm - Depart Ohio's capital
11:37pm- Arrive home at Spangler safely

We enjoyed the trip immensely.  The boys were excellent and we are likely to make the trip again before too long.  Hopefully we can catch up with Aunt Blanche and Uncle Al and Bonnie next time.

Sorry Ellie...I had to include it since it was the only picture I had of Auggie and Pete for the weekend.  Not to thrilled by my own expression but you all can get a glimpse of my new frames that I got in December of 2012.  My old glasses were from my sophomore year in high school!

Water jets in the ocean exhibit.  Not sure who had more fun: Luke or Uncle Andy?

Chair lift at COSI

Sheer excitement:  Luke was thrilled by the various exhibits that employed jet streams of air or water especially.  Did you know that the average speed of ketchup leaving the bottle is 25 mph?!?!?

Come Lord Jesus

I know my antiphon doesn't exactly match up with the liturgical season.  Here we are smack dab in the middle of Lent and I'm just now posting about Christmas.

I blame it on my husband.

Truth be told I actually received one of my Christmas gifts today.  I'll give him a little more credit though since he actually tried to surprise me with it last night but his plan didn't quite work.

As you know from a previous post, I made him two t-shirt quilts and pillow shams to fit the bill of our gold, frankincense and myrrh framework.

My gold gift was a mini greenhouse which we planted seeds in last weekend and already have some healthy young sprouts of broccoli and cabbage, a single sprout in each of the pea, parsley, and tomato rows, and a "no-show" as of yet from the peppers and the lavender.  In addition to that, I received the game DABBLE which as you might guess is a cousin to Scrabble.  Pete and I have played a couple of rounds and I totally whipped his batooski. ;-)

For my myrrh/homemade gift Pete composed another verse to add to the song he wrote that we danced to on our wedding day. Forever Starts Today is the title of the song, or at least the one I'll use for now since the alternate title includes the forbidden "A" word at this time of year.  He also wrote a fun pictogram story in the style of I Can't Said the Ant one of his favorite childhood reads.

The daunting task of the first diaper change of the day this morning was interrupted by the curious envelope with my name on it tucked underneath a frame above the changing table.  Nevermind that there was never a frame above the changing table before but what can I say, I'm not exactly the most observant in the a.m.  Utilizing one of his strong points yet again Pete wrote a lovely letter which directed my attention to my frankincense/spiritual gift:  A framed print of the Madonna of the Streets.  It's amazing how God works...I'm pretty sure my grandmother had the same picture hanging in her living room in Rootstown and probably at the other homes thereafter but I remember it there the most.

All in all we had a Gloria in Excelsius Deo holy-day season celebrating with family and friends and thanking God for the many blessings of 2012.

The Reason for the Season

Luke and Augustine in the tent from Aunt Katie and Uncle Andrew.  Luke LOVES his tent.  In fact, he enjoys loading it up with this, that, and the other thing and of course invites any visitors we may have to check it out too.  We use this to our advantage and threaten to dismantle it when he is misbehaving in which case he straightens up rather quickly.

Indoor basketball hoop from the Snyders that helps Luke get his extra jumps out.  He certainly has a lot of extra jumps!

Augustine with his tag blanket from Aunt Debbie, Uncle Matt, Jacob, Nick and Nate.

Ocean play station from Grandma Francis

Luke's Gold Gift

Stockings by the fireplace

Our very first Christmas tree.  I got the stockings ready but overall Pete handled most of the Christmas decorations.  I insist on having a "real" tree.  Although, after contemplating it a bit I struck a moral dilemma realizing that the tree was cut down and then disposed of...I'm not sure I can jive with the idea of chopping down trees but we don't exactly have the space to get a balled tree we can plant after the festivities...thoughts anyone?